June 12, 2006

Bud will not advance in the World Cup

Over the weekend my father asked me what I thought about the Budweiser uproar at this year's World Cup event in Germany. I had to confess that I didn't know what he was talking about. Apparently, folks in the host city are upset that Budweiser is the official beer sponsor. My dad asked me in the context of how could Budweiser, one of the world's most recognizable brands, make such a PR/marketing blunder. As we talked it was easy for us to appreciate the German's reaction. We all know that German's take great pride in their beer and even my father, a die hard nationalist and Bud man, admits that Bud doesn't stack up to German brew. How would we like it if a foreign bought the rights to passing out a new kind of apple pie on July 4? So I found this story about the situation. It's quite a conundrum. Bud is the beer sponsor and McDonald's is the food sponsor. So the folks watching Cup games are eating and drinking two huge American brands whenn American sentiment isn't, shall we say, at an all time high. I'm not a huge soccer fan but I know that it's an extremely prideful event for most of the world and the host city takes it seriously. I'd have a hard time if another country bought the rights to distribute food and beverages at the Super Bowl or World Series. You'll see in the article that Bud didn't know where the Cup would be hosted when it bought the beverage sponsorship rights. So where is the line in the sand and who crossed it? Is FIFA trying too hard to commercialize the Cup? Should Bud not force itself into events that are more popular outside it's home country? Or should soccer fans in Germany take the opportunity to expand their palate for a few weeks and focus on their team's Cup performance?

Comments

I'm sorry about England, Adam. After the U.S. was out, I hopped on the U.K. bandwagon and was sorry to see them lose. My support is now behind Italy.

Your point about sponsorship and multi-year deals is a good one. I tend to fall in line with typical American-capitalists and think that if a German beer really wanted to sponsor beer at the World Cup they should have a built a company that produced enough revenue to win the deal. Until then, Bud or the company with the most money is going to do what it can to promote itself.

One way around this would be if a market leader - knowing it would receive a warm welcome in the target market - voluntarily put its money into a local brand as part of a goodwill jesture. In this case Bud could have infused a german brew so that it won the marketing deal. Then a smart viral marketing campaing could spread the word that Big Brother helped our hometown favorite and love would flow from kegs everywhere...

Hmm, only one more real World Cup game left and I'm going into withdrawal. England is my squad since 1975, so last win in this tourney is deja vu of my pre-2004 Red Sox fandom.

Anyhow, on blog topic - I spoke with two German fans at the Goethe Institute in Boston about the Budweiser travesty last week (great win over Argentina) and we agreed that Bud wouldn't normally be served based on German brewing purity laws, but that Sam Adams would fit. Problem in tying sponsorship to a single event (FIFA signs multi-year deals when possible) is the usual global marketing conundrum - will my message connect or insult the viewers/locals? Bud tried to cover bases/goal posts with a local partner, but it's a joke when a real German Pilsner is superior to Bud's watery soup.

The other geography/marketing problem comes in 2010 with an overdue World Cup visit to South Africa. My German friend joked that they'd need to have oppressive diamond mine as the only local business that can sustain a global marketing campaign. A great point and rationale for multi-year deals that help the coffers of FIFA and I guess the players.

I hadn't heard that story, Stuart, thanks for sharing. It makes me a bit embarassed. I'm not a soccer (football) expert but do try and support it during the World Cup. Things like this unfortunately show our ignorance and lack of effort to understand the history and culture of the sport. I'll root for England if you do the same for the U.S. club - we need all the support we can get! -Matt

McDonalds made an even bigger mistake. A 10-year-old boy in England won a McDonald's competition to become a "World Cup mascot" and lead the team out onto the pitch. You can imagine how excited he was. Until he found out that the clowns at McDonalds has assigned him to Germany - England's greatest football rivals. Surely a decision that could only have been made by those who totally don't understand football (soccer).